Freedom And Liberty, Zero Excuses, The Truth!

We're All in This Together!

bill@falzett.com — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:09:00 GMT

We're all in this together...but some of us are IN more than others!

A catch phrase I often hear in support of big government and social programs is, "We're all in this together." It never fails to elicit a warm and fuzzy feeling of security in a time of need. I believe it is appropriate to other things like sports teams, armies, or families, but in the context of society at large, I find it a troublesome notion.

Evolutionary Psychologists have a concept for the notion of, "We're all in this together!"; it is called Reciprocal Altruism. The idea behind reciprocal altruism is that an individual is willing to risk a small portion of his own personal security, food, energy or other asset, to help another individual, so long as there is a reasonable expectation the act will be reciprocated at some point in the future. In the exchange, both individuals benefit, and are more secure working together. This concept makes sense; the logic works and it is intuitive. In essence it is the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours", principle of life.

Reciprocal altruism only works if certain conditions are met. In addition to the conditions of mutual benefit, there must also be a mechanism to detect "cheating", lest some individuals be exploited in the arrangement. Robert Wright has explored the concept to good effect in his books "The Moral Animal" and "Non-Zero", where he demonstrates how this phenomenon can significantly improve the fitness or reproductive success of the individuals or groups involved in the exchange. There is no doubt that Reciprocal Altruism, under the proper conditions, is a good thing.

There are many systems of reciprocal altruism in nature. The most fundamental examples among humans are families, clans or small villages. Reciprocal altruism works well on this scale. Individuals are united toward many common goals and share burdens to the common benefit. In such a context, it is also simple to detect cheating. If an individual is disruptive or is not pulling his weight, it is obvious and he can be quickly reprimanded and brought into line, or ostracized altogether. As communities grow beyond the size of a village, many of the benefits remain, but it becomes more difficult to detect cheating and to effectively sanction against it. The system then begins to have pockets of corruption and exploitation.

Our nation was founded as a rather broad system of reciprocal altruism. Individuals, towns, and in turn, entire colonies sacrificed a portion of autonomy and resources to gain the benefits of harmony, commerce and the security of numbers. Benjamin Franklin characterized the urgency of cooperation in these colorfully poignant terms just prior to signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776:

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The language of the Preamble to our Constitution also clearly lays out the expectations in this regard:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The founding fathers clearly envisioned a very large system of reciprocal altruism to which we would ALL contribute, with the expectation of receiving benefits in kind, and in which we would all be free to enjoy the blessings of liberty and freedom. The success and prosperity of the United States is a testimony to their vision and to the benefits of reciprocal altruism.

For all it's good, our system of reciprocal altruism has not been without problems because we have not been effective in dealing with cheaters. If you are a student of history, you know the system rolled along tolerably well for something like four score and seven years. At that point many decided there wasn't enough reciprocity going on to offset the sacrifice, and chose to quit the Union. I recommend the work of Thomas Dilorenzo to learn the real economic story behind the War Between the States, or the War of Northern Agression as it known by many. No matter what your conclusions about the war and the cause, the bottom line is that some among us were no longer feeling the love for our system of reciprocal altruism, and wanted out. In response, President Abraham Lincoln made war, and changed our system forever, from one of reciprocal altruism, to one of mandatory cooperation and unity at threat of death.

With a population of taxable workers in thrall and paying tribute, our government has grown to immense proportions never imagined by the founders. Not only has this government spent every dime they can extort from the worker, their irresponsible borrowing to spend for entitlements, social programs, wars and police actions around the globe, ineffective agencies and bureaucracies, bailing out failing business ventures, and legislative pork, have put us trillions of dollars into debt, with no end in sight. At the risk of hyperbole, I believe that in effect, the working American toils every day at gunpoint to fund an out of control, irresponsible and financially insolvent government.

Although I resent paying over half of the money I earn in taxes under duress, I concede there are benefits to our flawed system of reciprocal altruism. Furthermore, I retain a love of this country, and it is my belief that those of us who are fortunate to enjoy the fruits of it have a vested interest to keep the faith and to get back on the path the founders intended. I am committed to that, but I think it is fair to expect that cheating and exploitation will be dealt with immediately so that the productive can keep more of what they earn. We must cut entitlement spending, spending on unnecessary foreign military actions, and institute immigration policies that protect the American worker from the weight of cheating illegals who pay no taxes but burden our education, medical and social programs. We must insist on a moratorium against all growth in government, including publicly funded health care, and elect legislators who live within their means.

I am fiercely independent, and I value Liberty above all else. Since Abraham Lincoln valued Union above all else, our sensibilities can never align. However, there is much to admire about the man, and there is at least one statement he made with which I agree:

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative andindependence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

It is time for those who claim, "We're all in this together!", to take a stand against cheaters and exploitation instead of expecting those of us who truly are IN to give more.

Racking Up the Wealthiest 2% of Americans

bill@falzett.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:16:00 GMT

Some 30 years ago, I was a High School Jr. living in Mansfield Texas. At that time Mansfield was still a small town of several thousand people, mostly spread about the surrounding countryside. There was an old downtown area at the corner of Main and Broad with a few ramshackle store-fronts that had seen much better times decades before. In one of the buildings on Main St., across from the hardware store, there was a pool hall that looked like something out of an old western. It was a long and narrow space with a beat up and dusty wood floor, a jukebox and five pool tables lined up parallel. On the walls were the house cues, racks and chalk. I don't recall a sign out front, but the proprietor's name was Fred, and everybody called this place Fred's Pool Hall.

Fred was a crusty old guy of indeterminate age, maybe 70, maybe 80. He was about 5' 2" tall, and I would guess around 250 lbs. Every time I ever saw him, he was wearing the same pair of worn out blue denim bib overalls, a lumberjack shirt and work boots. In his mouth was a moist and chewy cigar, that he pulled out when he growled and mumbled his largely unintelligible speech. He smelled like tobacco smoke and the sweat of a working man. Old Fred was like a bull-dog watching over this pool hall, snapping at anybody who got out of line and generally keeping the order. That was his job and he took it very seriously.

Clipped to the right side of his overalls was chain that hung down maybe ten inches, and looped back up and into his pocket. Normally his right hand was in the same pocket, while his left was busy fingering his cigar or jangling the bulge of quarters in his left pocket. When somebody needed change for the pool tables, Fred pulled the right hand out of the pocket along with a very fat wallet on the end of the chain. He opened the wallet, stuffed in the bills, and dropped it back into his pocket. The left hand then fished out several quarters and spread them out on the edge of the table to complete the making of change, then reached back up to his soggy cigar. This went on hour after hour all day long.

It was normally on evenings or weekends when my friends and I would stop in. I was no pool player, and being of modest means, I simply did not have money to spare to drop into the slot. I was mostly there to hang out with the guys, and crack wise. From my description of Fred, you can probably guess that he was not too keen on wisecracks or wiseguys in general. In fact he commonly ran somebody off for some minor irritation or infraction of his rules. As you can imagine, being a wiseguy, I was inclined to live on the edge; I wanted to push the envelope, but stop short of getting banished from the hall. On one such occasion, I happened to have an extra dollar to play pool, so I called Fred over to our table. He walked over with his smell and his grumpy attitude, snatched my dollar out of my hand, and began the routine of making change. I remember the stack of money in the wallet was especially impressive this day. There was more money in there than I had ever seen. So, I reached out my hand with pointed finger, touched the bills inside the fat wallet and said something genius like, "Wow look at all that; You're Rich!" That was when Fred smacked me up side of the head with his smelly cigar hand and snarled "GIT OUTTA MY MONEY!" My friends were falling about the place laughing as I put on a stupid comic's grin. Fred coolly laid my four quarters on the table and walked off chewing his cigar. His expression didn't give away much emotion, but the twinkle in his eye and the fact he didn't run me off told me he got a kick out of the episode. I think old Fred got this one right; He had worked hard for that money and I had no business in it.

I had not thought of this story in many years until recently when I heard of President Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans. According to him, the wealthiest Americans are those couples who make more than $250,000 per year, and he and his minions are poised to milk the politics of envy for everything its worth. Though we do not yet fall into this vaunted category as defined by Obama, my wife and I worked our way through college, and have shown up to work every day to put ourselves into the position where that number is within our reach in the near future. We have worked for it our entire lives. We have a nice home with a hefty mortgage, modest 401K plans, and late model cars. It may look to a goofy high school kid or others with limited perspective that we have a lot, but believe me, every penny is spoken for in debt. While we may be approaching the upper percentages among workers and wage earners, we are by no means rich or among the wealthiest 2% of Americans.

When I think of a bureaucrat greedily eying the fruits of my labor, and coveting the money I have worked for all my life, I see myself sort of like crusty old Fred. I don't wear the same clothes every day like he did, I don't chew cigars, and I can communicate tolerably well. However, don't let this semi-polished and civilized exterior fool you. I am a working man, I pay my bills, I take care of my obligations, and I watch my money. Bureaucrats beware as you ogle the size of my wallet, and make plans to reach inside. Like Fred, my instinct is to slap a knot on your head and growl, "GIT OUTTA MY MONEY!"

Done Fishin'

bill@falzett.com — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:18:00 GMT

Okay, so I haven't actually been away fishing for three months. The truth is I was so exhausted with my efforts to stem the tide of Obama Socialism, that I needed a rest to mend myself psychologically. In the months leading up to the election, try as I might and try as I may, I found it nearly impossible to write something positive about the situation. Invariably I found all my journeys led me down tortured paths and ended in dark blind alleys. My efforts to deliver a positive message simply led nowhere.

After the election, I got calls and e-mails from many of like mind who predicted disaster and ruin for our country. Like them, I had also read all the gloomy news about the economy and the serial bailouts. I had reached a bad news overload, and my state of mental health was just not satisfactory. I knew something had to change.

To the doomsayers, I bid them hang on, keep a positive attitude and take care of their jobs. I preached to my co-workers about our good fortune to not only have good jobs, but to also be working in the Medical industry with taxpayer funded Universal Health Care a heartbeat away. I turned off talk radio, stopped watching the news, and pointed my web browser toward anything but news sites. I also shunted all political emails to the trash bin.

Rather than continue to obsess over the bad news all day, I turned my focus to other things, generative stuff to busy my hands and mind, and pursuits to make me feel better and more secure. I bought an old truck to work on; I bought a wooded lot on a lovely little lake in the Piney Woods of East Texas; I bought a canoe to paddle the river nearby; I bought a classical guitar to learn to play; I planted a couple hundred Pine seedlings around my home; I bought a shiny new handgun, only nominally as an affirmation of my second amendment rights; and I cherished unseasonably sunny days driving the country roads with my top down. I was also able to play a lucrative game of cat and mouse with a canny mortgage broker and made away with a 4.5% refinance on my home. I found many positive things to enjoy and to be thankful for in my life.

Gone fishin'? Only figuratively, but I'm done fishin' now and I feel much better. Spring is on the horizon and I am cleaning my fish and looking ahead to the future. Thanks for stopping by, and for reading patiently through all these mixed metaphors. I hope you will check back in on me from time to time to read my whoppers, scribblings and big fish stories.

Gone Fishin'!!!

bill@falzett.com — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:01:00 GMT

...wait for it; wait for it...

Gone Fishin'!!

bill@falzett.com — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:11:00 GMT

...aint makin' no excuses...

Gone Fishin'!

bill@falzett.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:09:00 GMT

Still got my freedom and liberty...

Big Government, The American Taxpayer and The Giving Tree

bill@falzett.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:09:00 GMT

Have you read the children's book, "The Giving Tree", by Shel Silverstein? If not, you should! It is a short but powerful tale of a tree and a boy. Through the course of the boy's life, he enjoys the benefits of the tree. The tree gives him a place to play, fruit to eat, shelter from the sun and branches to build his home. In manhood, the boy cuts the tree down to a stump to build a ship to travel the world. Finally, the boy, now an old man, tired and weary from the business of life, returns to the stump. The tree laments, "I have nothing more to give you", and the old man simply sits down on the stump to rest his weary body. Shel Silverstein ends the story telling us the tree is happy in the end to provide even this modest comfort to the boy.

I think most parents and others with a generous nature can relate to the bitter-sweet moral of the story. I recently re-read the story and began to think of it in terms of our country:

Since it's beginning, The United States of America has given of itself to the world. We have liberated Europe from tyranny in World Wars, brought down the evil Communist Empire of the Soviet Union, and given freedom to troubled parts of the Middle East. We have provided food relief and medical care to the third world, fought the injustice of apartheid in Africa, and led the world in providing aid for natural disasters around the globe, even to our enemies. Our government has called upon us again and again to lead the world with generosity and a firm hand to overcome the forces of fate, nature and evil. Through it all, the American taxpayer has remained steadfast and dedicated to giving aid and comfort to the world.

At home, we have enjoyed the greatest prosperity to the most people in the history of the world. At the same time we provide mandatory entitlements and assistance programs that account for nearly 60% of our Federal budget. We patiently tolerate the many challenges of illegal immigration. We provide food stamps to 10% of our population, subsidized housing, Medicare, Medicaid and on and on. We provide corporate welfare in the form of subsidies to help businesses, and most recently the long-suffering taxpayer was called upon to give an unprecedented sum to bail out Wall Street.

We fight for the freedom of others across the world, and we hear they do not like us. We feed the hungry and shelter the poor, and we hear they envy us and want to knock us down. We bail out the greedy and opportunistic in Washington and Wall Street, and they treat us with contempt and tell us it is for our own good. We see our jobs going overseas, our dollars papering the walls of Saudi palaces, and our enemies benefiting from our weakened position. We give and we give, and it appears we are now about to enter a recession, possibly a depression for our troubles. Unlike the giving tree in the story, The American Taxpayer feels pain, indignation and anger.

I want to paint a picture for you:
Imagine yesteryear, circa 1781, a young tree sits atop a grassy knoll bending in the light breeze. Below the knoll, out past a broad cornfield, a field of battle spreads into the visible distance. Brave Colonial militia face the withering cannon and musket fire from seasoned British Regulars. When the smoke has cleared, the underdogs have won with a rugged determination and an independent spirit; A new Nation is born.

Years pass and the young tree on the hill grows tall and strong. Its sweeping branches now shade most of the knoll. It's fruit feeds much of the surrounding countryside. The tree is happy to give so much to the world.

More years pass, and the tree has given up branches to provide shelter, warmth and protection to many. The tree has given much to the world, gives even more and is happy to do so.

Still more years pass, and the tree has finally given up everything down to a stump. It no longer produces its bounty of fruit, wood or anything else of value. Carved into the side of the remaining stump are the words "American Taxpayer". Sitting atop the stump is a very tired and downcast old man. He wears a tattered suit of faded red, white and blue. His once jaunty tophat, is now dingy and limp in one hand. It is Uncle Sam who rests atop the stump of the once proud and generous American taxpayer tree. He stares bleakly out across the blighted landscape at the desolation, and the weeds.

We are yet remote from the dire situation presented in the preceding illustration, but to make sure we don't get there, we must act. The public treasury is a trust we place with the American government. It belongs to Us, the American Taxpayers. Our elected representatives are the conservators of this trust. Our conservators have abused this trust to create a perennial budget deficit and an enormous national debt. The debt begets calls for more taxes, taxes stifle growth and productivity, and we all suffer. Suffering begets calls for more entitlements, entitlements grow the debt, and the cycle continues. We must insist on a government that lives within its means, and elect leaders and representatives who deserve this trust. When you go to vote this November, consider the candidate who will nurture the tree so that it may continue to bear fruit for us all!

* Spending Freeze and a Balanced Budget.
* Lower Taxes to stimulate the economy and allow taxpayers to keep more of what they earn.
* Energy Independence through proactive use of all energy alternatives.
* Immigration Reform to protect the American worker and provide access for guest workers.

Click here to learn more about the current and projected taxpayer burden!

Click here to watch a great video of what the Founders intended!

The Mortgage Crisis and The First Rule of the Con

bill@falzett.com — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:26:00 GMT

Have you ever heard of the First Rule of the Con? I can't quite recall where I first learned of the First Rule of the Con, but I know for sure it is a universal truth. The First Rule of the Con is that YOU CANNOT CHEAT AN HONEST MAN! It is fundamental to the success of grifters and con-men the world over. An honest man does not expect to get something for nothing, and therefore he cannot be lured in by that which is too good to be true. A dishonest person on the other hand jumps at the opportunity to get something for nothing, something that he knows is not rightfully his, and he is therefore easy to lure in. He is a good MARK. The con is everywhere, in fact it is highly likely you have an e-mail in your inbox right now with a nice fat lure dangling from it.

Now that we have a handle on the first rule, have you heard the narrative from the left about the mortgage crisis? According to them, de-regulation by Greenspan, Bush and the neocons led to mortgage loan merchants taking advantage of the poor and low income. The story goes that all these folks were eligible and credit-worthy for fixed rate loans, but the brokers and loan officers, with the collusion of wicked CEOs deceived them into buying an Adjustable Rate Mortgage. We are to believe that adult Americans with good credit, a job and the dream of home ownership walked into their friendly neighborhood banks, and walked out with a mortgage default time bomb. They were innocents, bamboozled by these slick and greedy con-men. When rates rose, or it came time to refinance, these innocents were unable to find loans and defaulted, which lead to our current mortgage crisis. Are you pickin' up what I'm layin' down?

The tellers of this tale, conveniently ignore the role of the Community Reinvestment Act; They excuse the exploitation and extortion by groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now; And they deny the corruption of their pet politicians. Furthermore, so compelling and/or useful is this narrative that I even heard our Republican Vice Presidential nominee railing against the deception in the recent debate. Any whisper of personal responsibility is drowned by the din and clamor to blame the powerful and eat the rich. Eat the rich, blame the powerful, and REGULATE, REGULATE, REGULATE.

Folks, this story is nonsense! Any sane and responsible adult who has the wherewithal to get a mortgage loan must be accountable for that to which he signs his name. Otherwise, no contract in any society can ever work. Without reliable contracts, civilized human society ceases to exist. No, these people heard only that they could get lower payments; Everything after that went in one ear and out the other. I don't doubt that there were many crafty loan brokers out there milking this cash cow for every last drop, but they could not have sold a single mortgage without a willing MARK sitting in front of them; A MARK who saw an opportunity to live in a home he could not afford, and pay a price less than he would have otherwise paid with a conventional loan. Now that the bubble has burst, the culpable want to obfuscate the truth with misdirection and politically correct empathy. I sympathize with those who have lost their homes. I sympathize, and perhaps it is not too great a stretch for me to believe the essence of the old adage that "but for the grace of God, there go I". However, no buyer can blame a salesman for selling him that which he has asked for and agreed to.

Have you noticed any other big con on the horizon? It seems like all I am hearing from candidates on both sides of the aisle are promises to deliver goodies of one sort or another from the public treasury. I also see citizens lining up to ask "What are you going to do for me?" It seems too few recognize that our candidates' are promising things we cannot afford, and they cannot deliver. If they do deliver, it is from more deficit spending, and at the expense of our children and grandchildren.

Be honest, come November are you looking to get something for nothing, or buying into promises that are too good to be true? Will your vote go to the candidate who promises you the most goodies from the public Treasury? If so, you are falling for a con, and you deserve what you get. Remember the First Rule of the Con: You cannot cheat an honest man!

Now, while this is all fresh on your mind, go check your e-mail, and under no circumstances reply to that banker from Nigeria who is holding Millions in your name!

Wall Street Bailout or Main Street Rescue: Intentions v. Results

bill@falzett.com — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:59:00 GMT

In my least cynical moments, I imagine the intentions of those who push welfare, entitlements and affirmative action are good. I imagine they really do want to level the playing field and help the less fortunate among us. I imagine they truly believe no one in America should live in poverty, and I imagine they are so motivated by these altruistic beliefs, that they will grasp at every opportunity to make it so. During these moments I envision a Utopia in which all Americans believe we are in this together, we all have empathy, and we all extend a helping hand to our neighbor. I envision a country in which every hour of labor is valued as highly as the next, and every person contributes to the success and health of society. I envision a place where everyone plays fairly, there is no class envy, and everyone has equal opportunity. It is a nice picture, and I understand what those well-intentioned persons are working for with such an intense and single-minded focus.

I am invariably shaken from my reverie by the realities on the ground in America. We provide welfare, food stamps and other relief to the poor and illegal aliens, and we get more illegal aliens. We send money and medical care overseas to feed and care for the impoverished in third world countries, and we get more impoverished. We provide and extend unemployment benefits to the unemployed, and we get more unemployed for a longer term. And on and on. In every situation, our welfare and entitlement programs not only beget more of the thing they are designed to alleviate, but add additional unintended consequences.

The most recent and highly visible example of this concerns the Wall Street Bailout. The noble goal was to provide home ownership to every American. Former President Jimmy Carter and a Democrat congress instituted the CRA or Community Reinvestment Act designed to provide low income persons with equal access to home loans. The program was pushed by the Clinton administration, and milked for every last drop from groups like ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Along the way, mortgage brokers, loan officers and executives made money hand over fist following the government mandate to provide equal access to mortgage loans to persons who were not credit-worthy, and simply could not repay the loans even in the best of times. Corrupt politicians like Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd and yes, Barack Obama got sweetheart loans and campaign contributions from the very individuals and institutions they were propping up and enabling. With loan guarantees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it was simply a matter of time before this bubble burst. The bubble did burst, and these people are directly responsible for the glut of foreclosures, and the current crisis.

With this crisis staring us in the face, does anyone still hold the illusion of Utopia? Does anyone believe that persons with low-income were the beneficiaries of these ostensibly good intentions? Surely not. If you follow the trail of money, you will see the truth of who has benefited. When a house in a low income neighborhood changed hands, the former owner benefited. The loan officer and mortgage brokers benefited from commissions and other closing costs. The executives got bonuses from volume and from cooking the books. Banks profited from bundling mortgages and the leveraging of the assets. When the bubble burst, all of these people walked away with their booty, leaving the American taxpayer to clean up the mess. First we had to rescue Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG, and now we are poised to write a blank check to anyone holding a stack of worthless mortgages or other bad loans. No net relief whatsoever has accrued to the poor. On the contrary, the net effect is that more wealth has been transferred from the taxpayer to the opportunistic and corrupt.

Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman said, "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results." I cannot read the hearts and minds of our representatives, so I don't really know their true intentions. However, I am skeptical when I see them benefit directly, while the ostensible beneficiaries still flounder and suffer. Even so, if I give the benefit of the doubt, and assume these persons and all who support them are persons of good will and good intent, I can be forgiving. I can forgive these people by virtue of their good intentions, but like Milton Friedman, I believe it is a great mistake to forgive, forget, or support the ideology and programs that get this kind of results.

With regard to the bailout plan, we are told that the beneficiaries are not Wall Street bankers and CEOs, but the American people. We are told that our economy depends on a thriving credit market, and that the bailout will keep us liquid. We are told we can still borrow money, keep ourselves in debt, and thereby keep our economy afloat. How about the Community Reinvestment Act? Does continued credit availability mean groups like ACORN will still be pushing for equal access by people who cannot afford it? I suspect it does. Is there really any reason to believe lenders will not go out and make more ill-advised loans we all have to bail out again? I will again assume good intentions, but my expectations of good results are very low indeed.

Going forward, Americans must send the message to Washington that we have had enough of the massive entitlement agenda, enough of a government that refuses to live within its means, and enough of legislation that delivers more of the same disappointing and disastrous results. Furthermore, we need to let our representatives know that we appreciate good intentions, but we will not tolerate the corruption and the conflicts of interest hidden behind them. We must insist on economic restructuring and rescue plans that account for this, and not blank checks that are doomed to more bad results and net losses to the taxpayer.

If you agree, please take some time to contact your representatives and tell them so!

Please visit these links for more information:

Dave Ramsey's Common Sense Fix for the Bailout

Harvard Economist Jeffrey A. Miron, one of 166 eminent economists who have come out against the Bailout in its present form

Ron Paul on the Bailout

See where Ross Perot believes we are headed

Burnin' Down The House Video

The Truth About Entitlements, Taxes and the Obama Plan

bill@falzett.com — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:01:00 GMT

We have some serious economic realities in this country that demand our attention. We cannot afford to be distracted with a focus on candidates personalities, personal agendas, verbal gaffes, and the rest of the drama playing out in our mainstream media.

In 2007, tax revenues in this country from all sources were $2.57 Trillion. Total government spending was $2.73 Trillion. The net effect was that we went $162 Billion in-the-hole. All reliable projections point to the unfortunate truth that spending at levels consistent with our current commitments will continue to out-pace revenues by an ever greater percentage in the coming years.

Simply put, there are 4 factors in this equation that can be manipulated to change the outcome. We can scale back or eliminate entitlements, cut discretionary spending for things like education and military, raise taxes, or grow the economy to produce a larger tax base. I believe most of us would prefer the last option, but in reality the solution will require some manipulation of all these factors.

Barack Obama is running on a platform of change. The change he proposes amounts to approximately $1 Trillion in additional spending over the next 4 years. His plans include a $65 Billion-per-year health plan, a $15 billion in green energy stimulus spending, $85 billion in tax cuts and credits to lower income brackets, a $25 billion-a-year increase in foreign aid, $18 billion a year in increased education spending, and $3.5 billion for a national service plan. All this and more, even before anyone else in government comes to the table with a wish list.

Many in our country want to turn a blind eye to our dire financial realities. Mr Obama and others of his ilk want to lead the charge by promising to deliver more things to more people, at taxpayer expense, and dig us into an ever deeper hole. There simply is no way to pay for it all without dramatically raising taxes on all the productive citizens and businesses in this country. If the Obamas of this country are elected, government will grow, entitlements will grow, our deficit will grow, and the tax increases needed to support it all will stifle any potential growth of our economy.

Have you ever dug yourself out of financial hole? If you are honest, you will admit digging out meant working more, saving, spending less, and generally living within your means. I seriously doubt most of us would consider borrowing more, or taking from others to be the solution. Why should we support representatives and a government in Washington that would behave any other way. The language of hope and change is nice, but those of us who run a household or a business know that talk of hope and change is not enough to get the job done. Digging out of a hole requires spending less money, and creating more wealth; it is as simple as that. Irresponsible promises, trying to be everything to everybody, unchecked spending, and crippling taxation are a recipe for disaster. Real hope and real change will require all of us to pitch in to work, grow our economy and urge those on entitlements toward greater independence and productivity.

Please remember the truth of the acronyms I wrote about here. And come November, my HOPE is you will choose the candidate who is honest about where we stand and what kind of CHANGE it will take to recover, rather than the one who is promising hope and change by telling you what you want to hear.

If you would like to learn more about the economic realities facing our country, please visit www.perotcharts.com